Assets at donor-advised funds have grown at a double-digit pace for five straight years, have grown over 20 percent for two straight years, says the 2015 Donor-Advised Fund Report from the National Philanthropic Trust, which is based in Jenkintown, Pa., and is the largest national, independent donor-advised fund charity in the U.S.

The annual study, published since 2006, is based mainly on data from Form 990 annual reports that nonprofits file with the Internal Revenue Service. It examined 1,016 charities that sponsor donor-advised funds.

For nine straight years, the annual payout rate for donor-advised funds has exceeded 20 percent, compared to the mandatory minimum payout rate of five percent for foundations.

The U.S. now is home to over 238,000 donor-advised accounts, up 8.8 percent in 2014, when the average size of a donor-advised fund account grew 13.7 percent to a record-high $296,701.

Gender of first-born child linked to parents’ charitable giving

Parents’ charitable giving is affected by the gender of their first child, a new report says.

Parents who have a first-born son and two or more children are more likely to give, and the amounts they give are 14.3 percent higher than parents whose first-born child is a daughter, says the report from the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University.

Parents who have a daughter who is an only child are more likely to give to charity, and the amounts they give are 20.3 percent higher than parents of a son who is an only child, says the report, “Women Give 2015: How dosons and daughters affect parents’ charitable giving?”

People whose only child is a daughter give more to education and basic needs, while people whose first-born child is a son give more to education, youth and family services.

Previous studies have found that parents influence their children’s generosity, the Women’s Philanthropy Institute says.

The new research finds the effect of children on their parents’ generosity is shaped by other family characteristics, including the number of children, the partnership status of the parents, the parents’ partnership history, and whether any children still live at home.

Higher education remains top priority for $1 million donors

Charities across eight international regions received at least 1,831 gifts of $1 million or more totaling $24.5 billion with higher education remaining the top priority of gifts at that level, a new report says.

Of the total, universities and other higher-education institutions received $7.58 billion, says Million Dollar Report, a study from Coutts in association with the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University.

Individuals gave 59 percent of the total dollars, while foundations gave 25 percent and corporations gave 16 percent.

Foundations received $6.77 billion from 168 gifts.

More than 95 percent of the gifts and nearly 90 percent of the dollars were given to charities in the donor’s own country or region. In the Middle east, the vast majority of donations were directed overseas.

Indian-American diaspora giving seen on rise

Philanthropy by donors with roots in India has shifted from family and community to supporting broad-based social causes and organizations focused on addressing India’s toughest problems, new research says.

Indian-American giving to programs in India could dwarf official U.S. foreign aid to India and total half the $2.2 billion in aid India receives from all countries, says the research, which was released by The Bridgespan Group and featured in an article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

The median annual income for Indian-headed households in the US. totals $89,000, compared to a U.S. median of $50,000, and 27 percent of Indian households earn more than $140,000, putting them in the top 10 percent of earners in the U.S., the research says.

The combined annual discretionary income of Americans of Indian origin totals roughly $67.4 billion.

If their philanthropic contributions were consistent with those of other U.S. households in similar income brackets, and they directed 40 percent of their philanthropy to India, W$1.2 billion a year would flow from Indian diaspora donors to Indian causes, compared to $116.4 million in U.S. foreign aid to India in fiscal 2014 and $2.2 billion on average from 2005 through 2013 in annual official development aid received by India from all countries.

Second blues CD to benefit Interactive Resource Center

The art and music departments at Greensboro College, along with other faculty, staff, students and area musicians, plan to produce and sell a second Healing Blues Project CDto raise awareness of and money to fight homelessness.

The first Healing Blues CD, released in October 2014, raised over $10,000 for the Interactive Resource Center, a day center in downtown Greensboro for people experiencing homelessness or who are at imminent risk of homelessness.

The CD featured blues and blues-related songs whose lyrics were built from the true stories of persons experiencing homeless, with local musicians providing the music.

Release date for the second CD will be June 2016. Volume 2 will be partially funded by a project-support grant from ArtsGreensboro to the Interactive Resource Center.

Women’s Fund gives $107,000

The Women’s Fund of Winston-Salem awarded over $107,000 in grants to local effort to address the root causes of problems affecting women and girls in Forsyth County at its 10th Annual Luncheon on November 17 at the Benton Convention Center.

N.C. Central gets over $1 million from alumni

North Carolina Central University in Durham received contributions totaling just over $1 million from 1,061 alumni during homecoming weekend, setting a record for the most donors ever during the annual event.

Duke gets $5 million for law school

Duke University in Durham has received a $5 million grant from The Duke Endowment in Charlotte to support an increase in the number of endowed faculty positions at its School of Law.

The grant will create a dollar-for-dollar matching gift fund to encourage donors to endow up to six new faculty positions in the next two years.

Platinum Corral giving $25,000

Platinum Corral, parent company of 26 Golden Corral franchises throughout the Carolinas, West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Ohio, is making a five-year, $25,000 donation to ProStart, a career and technical education program that focuses on teaching culinary arts and restaurant management fundamentals to secondary school students in all 50 states.

YWCA Family Shelter gets food donation

YWCA Family Shelter in Greensboro received over 1,100 bags of trail mix packed by over 100 employees at the Greensboro Customer Service Center of Time Warner Cable.

Boys & Girls Club gets donated mouth guards

Delta Dental of North Carolina donated 1,000 mouth guards to the Boys & Girls Club of Wake County for its sports teams.

Triad Health Project to hold walk, run

Triad Health Project, an HIV/AIDS service organization in Greensboro, will hold its 24th Annual Winter Walk for AIDS and Ron Johnson 5K Run on December 6 at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The event raises over $120,000 for the organization’s direct services, support and prevention-education programs.

Walking Classroom Institute gets $451,000

The Walking Classroom Institute in Chapel Hill has received a $451,000 grant from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust in Winston-Salem to make its The Walking Classroom program available to elementary schools in six rural North Carolina counties.

The Institute also will provide in-kind donations of classroom materials totaling $333,000.

The effort will serve 15,000 students in grades four and five in Beaufort, Burke, Edgecombe, Halifax, McDowell and Nash counties by allowing them to get exercise during the school day as they walk while listening to podcasts that support the required curriculum.

Downtown Greenway gets $12,000

The Downtown Residents’ Association is giving $12,000 to the Downtown Greenway to support a bike rack to be located at Freedom Cornerstone at the corner of Gate City and Murrow boulevards in Greensboro.

Volunteers spruce up room at Women’s Hospital

The room at Women’s Hospital in Greensboro that is used for conversations about mammograms and ultrasounds has a new look, thanks to a group of volunteers.

Hospital volunteer Cookie Weissman took it upon herself to improve the space and contacted contacted interior designer Jess Dauray of Jessica Dauray Interiors who volunteered to help and contacted a furniture company, artists, photographers and others.

Today, the space has a custom-upholstered chair and sofa, original art and photography on the walls.

SAVE gets $75,000

The North Carolina-based National Association of Students Against Violence Everywhere, or SAVE, has received $75,000 from The Allstate Foundation to support its chapters at schools in North Carolina and Mississippi.

10 nonprofits get $40,000 each

GSK and Triangle Community Foundation announced 10 local nonprofits each received a $40,000 GSK IMPACT Award.

Stories that inspire

Good stories about doing good can help raise awareness, show impact, and inspire support.
Philanthropy North Carolina, the consulting practice of Todd Cohen, works with nonprofits to create those stories.
Contact Todd at 919.272.2051 or toddcohen49@gmail.com.